Surrendering to the Silence
by imprisoned in glass
Summary: (An Alice in Wonderland fic) She was born of the Exceptions, instilled with the wisdom of the elements at rebirth--though she'd been made to forget. The sun had long since fallen in Etheraen, its radiance smothered by the triumphant cloak of dark...


A/N: So this is my first story here at fanfiction.net.. What else can I say? I've been inspired by some really great authors and have tried my best to bother my beta-readers (who didn't know the importance of what they were doing at the time :D ) with constant questions about improving it.  
  
The shorthand: '[spade]'= what Alice perceives to be reality  
  
'[heart]'= what she believes to be the workings of her subconscious (ie: dreams, visions, hallucinations)  
  
[ ] = italics (since I cant seem to get it to work on this computer)  
  
Constructive criticism is appreciated, so please - R/R!  
  
http://evil-alice13.diaryland.com  
  
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Chapter One  
  
  
  
[Silence.]  
  
[She stared out from beneath the ashes, seeing for the first time what she had seen before. A glimpse of grey and a flash of white danced above her, a flowing gown gently sliding across the blur...Slowly, a voice, a song, crept up from the earth, gathering the wisdom of the elements as it grew louder. Whispers of the ancients enveloped her, strenghthening her in their warm grasp. But then the whiteness was slit and blackness poured in, and the song became dark and its grasp tight and confining. It made her weak..it made her forget all that had come to pass..]  
  
  
  
The sun had long since fallen here, its radiance smothered by the triumphant cloak of dark. The stillness of the air was troubled only by the moon as a shadow made its way through the carcass of the maze.  
  
There was a sadness about her eyes, distant and unalterable, as if they bore lashes from the torment of the earth and were branded with its misery.  
  
[("Even hope is doomed to die...")]  
  
The image of a man, his eyes dead in an emaciated face appeared before her mind's perspective, and she grabbed instinctively at her skull as if it pained her. She increased her pace, now more intent to find the origin of that passing whisper of song; it was one which she could not offer meaning or explanation and left her thoughts stranded--  
  
[("In darkness, where the shadows lie")]  
  
The girl peered cautiously into a chamber at her right, and her quick eyes revealed his lurid grin. The sky was a violent shade of purple and crimson behind the Cheshire cat, masking the growth on the horizon in blackness. The wind remained unusually quiet, listening.  
  
Traces of the strange melody still straggled through the air, and with a final breath seemed to sink toward the blackened waters of the ancient [Insontis] Fountain.  
  
Alice's familiar heaved a slight sigh and was gone. A glass vial littered with deep scratches sat chained to the fountain's ledge.  
  
"Wait! You've forgotten something!" She shrugged and inspected the bottle, "Perhaps he knew me once...Or knows something I don't, at the least. These cuts are runes..markings of the..."  
  
Without warning, keys dropped from the heavens, landing with clinks on the stone below.  
  
A chill ran through her body and she stood taller, the innocence of childhood slowly fading as night stole it away, "If this proves to conceal deceit of some sort," she paused, lifting a key to the lock, "It is the only way." She lifted the bottle to her lips and time seemed to slow and then too faded with the onset of night.  
  
She stumbled and fell to the ground. The moon grew dark for a moment and stifled its monotonous plea, then continued to weep. [spade]  
  
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[(I must've fallen into a dream)]  
  
Alice glanced idly at the dying moon, its silence desperately seeking her attention.  
  
"...The continuation of the Experiment has the potential to reestablish my rightful sovereignty. The Court shall lose what free will they've left, and betray my sister. No hint of criticism will remain," the Queen of Spades smiled, "My supreme authority unquestioned."  
  
The Cheshire Cat pondered this for some time until he was believed to have fallen asleep. "It is ironic," he said, disconcerting the Queen, "that often what begins fair decays in the end..for it is then that intentions are forgotten."  
  
"That is very important! Write that down--" she commanded to an audience invisible to Alice.  
  
[(Somehow this doesn't seem right--the exchange seems unlikely...un..unreal)]  
  
The Queen searched a tattered parchment in her possession and said (as if a question had been asked), "Planned obsolescence, my dear child. If your mind were to remain unchecked, all answers might be prematurely revealed."  
  
Alice ran.  
  
After a time she stopped and took comfort in the fact that though the conspirators occupied infinity, their eyes had strayed temporarily from her.  
  
She produced the preconceptionless glass from her pocket and looked deep into it; she watched as she stood defeated, a vague memory of the past, weeping over the contradiction to all she'd held close--discovering the lies with which she'd poisoned herself. [heart]  
  
Alice stirred from her sleep and found herself immersed in the rampant waters of the [Insontis] fountain. Reverberations of maniacal laughter haunted the bitter night as she stared despairingly into the black emptiness and drowned. [spade] 


End file.
